


spring rain

by ar_lath_ma



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Death, Family, Love, M/M, Memories, Rain, Spring, remembering
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-29
Updated: 2020-04-29
Packaged: 2021-03-01 16:41:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23910247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ar_lath_ma/pseuds/ar_lath_ma
Summary: Stiles takes a moment to remember his mother.April flash-fic prompt: spring
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Comments: 4
Kudos: 40
Collections: Prose From the Abyss, The Abyss's April 2020 Flash Fiction Compendium





	spring rain

**Author's Note:**

> Leave a comment if you enjoyed it!

There was a pattering against the window panes, soft at first, then heavy with a sudden downpour. Drops poured in rivulets down stained-glass. Stiles opened the screen door, then closed it behind him with a muted click. He sat upon the porch swing, recently painted a rich forest green – Derek’s idea. There had been one on his porch, as a kid. It reminded him of sunny summer days, he said, sitting with his mom while drinking lemonade and avoiding the sun’s blazing heat. Picking unsuspecting dandelions and white clovers to twist into a bouquet for Talia, who accepted them with a loving kiss to her son’s ruddy cheek. Derek had smiled wistfully at the memory, running the brush, wet with paint, back and forth across the barren wood.

Stiles planted his feet and pushed back, lightly so as not to spill his mug of coffee, and the swing began to sway. The cup warmed his chilled fingers. Rain dripped from the gutters to the porch railing. He took a sip and leaned back, closing his eyes.

It was spring rain that reminded him of  _ his _ mom: of ponchos and muddied boots. Damp air that smelled like earthworms and grass. Claudia, sitting in her comfy armchair in the living room, legs pulled up and to the side to make room for Stiles, who cuddled up against her with a content sigh and a giggle when she tickled his foot. She read Stiles his favorite book beside the open window, shushing him as she brought him close, rocking back and forth as they listened together to the sounds of pouring rain. A staccato drumming upon the roof, and the gentle lilt of his mother’s voice. 

The sound of a page turning.

_ “I’ll love you forever, I’ll like you for always. As long as I’m living, my baby you’ll be.” _

She’d loved him twelve short years, yet left behind a lifetime of memories. 

Pulling Stiles and his dad outside, barefoot, in the middle of a storm, just to splash in the puddles along the road. Slow-dancing in the kitchen with John, before he took off for work, to nothing but the sound of percolating coffee. Crying intensely at the end of The Fox and The Hound, spilling popcorn over the cushions in her reach for Stiles so she could squish his face against her shoulder, then laughing as he attempted to wriggle out of her grasp. 

It was spring rain that reminded him of his mom and the day she entered the hospital. It was spring rain that reminded him of his twelve-year-old self, standing before the bathroom mirror with sure, steady hands as he lifted the razor and sheared his first section of hair from his head. It was spring rain that reminded him of the first day he visited her after she had lost her own hair, and the teary smile she had given him at the sight of his shaved head. She had rubbed her hand over it, gently, and pulled him in for a trembling kiss. She had laughed and called him “her little porcupine.”

It was spring rain that reminded him of what he had lost.

Sudden light through evaporating storm-clouds turned spring showers iridescent. Rainfall became a soft drizzle, then a cool mist that turned Stiles’ skin sticky. He took another long drink from his mug. Steam rose, warming the tip of his upturned nose. 

There was a creaking of floorboards from inside the house. The screen door opened and out stepped Derek in soft gray sweats. He took a seat beside Stiles and leaned against his side, wrapping an arm around his lean shoulders. They sat for a while, swinging in relative silence while Stiles continued to sip at his coffee. 

Derek ran a hand over his husband’s cheek and pressed a soft, understanding kiss to his mouth. Stiles leaned into it with a contented sigh. The older man pulled back and stood, the corners of his lips curling into a small smile. “I’ll start breakfast.” He murmured, shuffling his way back inside. 

Stiles sat for a moment longer, breathing in the smell of damp earth. He listened to the birds sing and chirp, flitting from branch to branch under the thick canopy. Finally, he stood, stretching one arm over his head as the swing’s chains clanged together. The other held his empty cup. 

He glanced one last time towards the puddles in the driveway, then the oak trees lining their property, and walked inside. “Is that bacon I smell? Did I tell you how much I love you?”

“Only a million times, but I think I could do with a million more.”

The screen door clicked shut behind him.


End file.
